


Wolf Girl and Frog Prince Quest for the Moon

by Starship_Captain_88



Series: Stories from The Server [1]
Category: Ookami to Koushinryou | Spice and Wolf, Original Work
Genre: Acrophobia, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:41:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24322960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starship_Captain_88/pseuds/Starship_Captain_88
Summary: It's the mid-21st century.A young Englishman joins a massively multi-player virtual reality server to have adventures.He meets an alien Princess, who recruits him to win the Coins she needs to buy her own moon.While gambling, he angers the ruler of the Great Casino, and loses all his luck.He finds out he must go on a quest to redeem himself.He quests for the moon with the avatar of Holo the Wise-wolf.
Series: Stories from The Server [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1755934





	Wolf Girl and Frog Prince Quest for the Moon

**Author's Note:**

> Since I am British, I normally write British English for spelling and so on, however in some of my stories the characters are American and use American English as well as I can manage it. This is to create atmosphere.

# Wolf Girl and Frog Prince Quest for the Moon

### A science-fiction fairy tale

Once upon a time in The Server, there was a princess with a problem.

The Princess Onecornchippy was the heir apparent to the Imperial House of the Frog Totem. Her House's fortunes had fallen to a low ebb. Onecornchippy was troubled. She did not know how to restore her position.

Wandering in the channels of The Server one day, the Princess came across a n00b member loitering. She dropped .uinfo @ him. His name was Yancy 0862016#4336, and it only was his second day in The Server. A true n00b.

Yancy was loitering with intent. He was hoping to find someone who could help him understand the culture of The Server.

The Princess and the n00b stopped and looked at each other.

Yancy was a tall, broad-shouldered white boi with untidy honey-blonde hair, pleasant but unremarkable features, and hazel-green eyes.

He wore a rather preppy outfit: camel colour chinos, a pale blue shirt and a red cravat, a dark blue pullover looped around his neck by its sleeves, and dark blue no-brand plimsolls. He had a khaki _sacoche_ hanging off his shoulder, and a smartphone in his left hand. He looked to be in his early to mid 20s.

The Princess was a fairly smol girl, with boiish hips and swimmer’s shoulders. Her skin was cafe au lait. Her hair, full and wavy, black-brown, fell below her shoulders; it shaded her sharp, attractive face and deep brown eyes.

Her clothes were studenty: ripped blue jeans, a purple indie band tee-shirt and a blue and white varsity jacket a size too large, with insignia Yancy did not recognise. She was wearing black combat boots with diamanté decoru. She could have been in her late teens to early 20s.

Onecornchippy was in disguise. Yancy could not tell she was a princess.

Onecornchippy also wanted to find someone. Her uncle and guardian Lord Yuzu had sent her to live in the Central Server in order to acquire a fiancé. Her mission was to prepare to continue the line of the House of the Frog Totem.

The Princess was totally opposed to this idea, but she wanted to live independently, so she had agreed just to get away from Yuzu’s country house. Now Onecornchippy needed to find a boi who would work as camouflage.

For some strange reason Onecornchippy took a fancy to the n00b. She dropped .waifuinfo @ him. He was unclaimed, a pure n00b, Husbando or Waifu to no-one, and he had no Affinities.

“Hey Yancy!” Her accent was American.

“How do you know my name?” His accent was English. He did not understand the control codes used to operate The Server’s various bot and infomatic systems.

“You’re such a n00b,” She smiled to show it was only a gentle tease.

“Well, _I am_ a n00b. There’s no shame in that. We all have to start at the beginning. Can you tell me how you knew my name?”

“It’s easy.” The Princess showed him how to drop .uinfo, and how to access the bot command helpfile. Yancy dropped .uinfo @ her. Her name displayed as Onecornchip#9208. The Princess had concealed her royal status.

“Thank you, Ms Onecornchip. I would offer you a coffee but I haven’t got any money.”

“No Coins? Have you been gambling and lost them all?” Onecornchippy couldn’t conceive of a member being penniless unless they had had very bad luck in the Great Casino. Every member of The Server could claim a stipend of 100 Coins each 23 hours, which was enough to support a modest lifestyle.

“Is there a casino? I didn’t know. I haven’t got Coins because I don’t know how to get any. But I’m only visiting, so I suppose it doesn’t matter.”

“You really are a n00b. Here…” She showed him how to drop .timely and claim his 100 Coins. The tokens popped into existence, weighing down his _sacoche_. “Now set yourself a reminder to claim again tomorrow.” Yancy took her advice.

“Thanks again for your help. Now I can offer you that coffee.”

“As I’m your senior in XP, _I_ shall offer _you_ a coffee instead.” The Princess wanted to find out more about this n00b boi.

They went to a cafe the Princess knew in the Social Media channel. The Princess ordered a cappucino and a lemon tart. Yancy had a black filter coffee.

“So, uh, what kind of a name is Yancy? It sounds American.”

“I was named in honour of a Canadian great-uncle.”

“Is that where you’re from, IRL?”

“What’s IRL?”

“In Real Life.”

“Oh, right. No, I’m English, but I live in Tokyo now.”

“Do you speak Japanese?”

“I can get by.” In truth Yancy was fluent. He was also modest.

Onecornchippy happened to be fluent in Japanese too. She said nothing about it for the moment, though. She liked to keep her secrets.

“I’m from Indiana. I hate it there. It’s a drag.”

Actually the Princess was from the future. The Server has connections with different areas of space-time. But she did not want him to discover her true identity.

Yancy hummed a tune and sang a line from an old song:

_Indiana wants me, Lord I can’t go back there._

“Is that why you came here, because you don’t like Indiana, I mean? I’m sorry, that was a bit of a personal question.”

“It’s fine, Yancy. Yeah, The Server is a fun place to hang out. You meet a lot of interesting members, and you can have some cool adventures.”

“That’s what I heard. That’s why I came here.”

“Tokyo’s cool, though. Don’t you like it there?”

“I love it. But sometimes you want something different, a change of pace.”

In Tokyo Yancy had a fulfilling job, enough money, a nice flat, and a maybe/maybe not girlfriend. At least, there was a Japanese girl he liked a lot, and he hoped she liked him, but he was a bit shy and… it was complicated. He also had some secrets from a former life, which he wanted to leave behind. He hoped The Server would enable him to forget them.

“Are you going to come to The Server again, Yancy?”

“I like it well enough so far. If I can get enough Coins, maybe I’ll rent a flat.”

The Princess was impulsive. She figured this boi might be a good one for her disguise, so she decided to test him even though they had only just met.

“Listen, Yancy. I’m looking for a Waifu.”

“What’s a Waifu?”

“Here in The Server if members like each other enough, they can become Husbando and Waifu.”

“You mean like getting married?”

“You could get married but for most members it’s just a way of showing friendship and support. Or love, of course.”

“Well, why ask me? I don’t know anything about all that. You’re the only member I’ve spoken to at any length.”

“I thought maybe you could be my Waifu?”

“Me! That’s a bit sudden, isn’t it? I mean, I’m flattered, but I didn’t come here to find romance.”

“Relax, I don’t want a romantic relationship. I want a boi I can rely on to help me with some stuff I’ve got to do. We would be just friends, strictly platonic.”

“What kind of stuff?” Yancy found Onecornchip interesting, but he didn’t want to get roped into something immoral.

“Basically, my guardian sent me here to find a boi to hook up with. I don’t want to hook up for real, but I need to have a boi on my arm at events sometimes, that kind of thing. A disguise, kinda. In return, I’ll teach you things you need to know about The Server, like Affinities and Aspects, and how to gamble.”

“Oh.” This was what Yancy wanted. “Your guardian? That seems a bit old-fashioned.”

“There’s legal stuff involved, trust funds and so on.”

“Hmm. You’re legally an adult, though? I don’t want to be involved in anything if you’re a minor.” Yancy knew his safeguarding. He had been trained while qualifying as a rowing coach, because his club had junior members.

“Yes. I’m almost 20. The age of majority is 18 in The Server and in Indiana.”

Yancy thought about it. He liked what he had seen of Onecornchip so far. She was impulsive and fun, a good foil to his somewhat passive mindset. He had come to The Server to learn its culture and have adventures. And nothing was really real, it was all just a big game, basically. So why not?

“Okay, Ms Onecornchip. I will be your Waifu.”

She claimed him for her Waifu. It helped that as a n00b he was cheap, since her House's fortunes were low. She signified the new bond by gifting him a cookie. The cookie popped on the saucer of his coffee cup. He wrapped it in a paper napkin, to save for later.

Yancy was pleased to be claimed. He gave Onecornchippy his Affinity. She began to teach him the ways of The Server.

Together they visited the Great Casino, and the Scarlet Cathedral, which stand opposite each other on the east and west sides of the Great Piazza. They walked back northwards, explored the Dream Disco channel, and eventually went all the way to the firewall of the Mod Channel, which caps the north end of The Server and houses all the administrative functions. It was landscaped to make it seem less forbidding than the fortress it is.

All this was good fun. Yancy began to understand the slang the members used, and got an idea of the geography. He used his .timely to rent a small crib in the Blue Home channel.

A few days later, though, he found he was unclaimed by Onecornchip, and claimed instead by a strange Husbando he had never met. The Princess wanted to test his loyalty, so she had transferred his allegiance to a friend of hers.

All Yancy knew was that Onecornchip had abandoned him! He had no idea why. It did not occur to him simply to ask her. His mind tended to follow indirect paths.

Yancy was bereft. He refused contact with his new Husbando, and took himself to the Great Casino, where Saki drops the Coins for lucky members. There he moped sadly, and studied the ways of gambling.

Despite his low mood, or perhaps because of it, Yancy began to have some success at the games. He built up his fund of Coins, and claimed a n00b member called ‘Hexie do not ping ty’ as Waifu for himself.

He changed his Affinity to Hexie, but Hexie and Yancy immediately quarrelled. They became deeply unhappy with one another.

Yancy regretted his changes of heart. He yearned to reconnect with Onecornchip, the Husbando who first had claimed him for her Waifu when he was just a n00b.

*****

Hexie and Yancy divorced with mutual relief. He changed his Affinity a third time, back to Onecornchip. He supplicated Onecornchip through DMs, and she showed favour to him.

“Yancy, let’s meet in the Great Piazza. There’s something I have to tell you.”

They met at the great door of the Scarlet Cathedral. It was dusk. The flashy neon of the Casino competed with the Cathedral’s red lamps to fill the piazza with multicoloured light.

“Let’s walk, Yancy.”

They paced slowly around the piazza, avoiding other members to maintain privacy for their conversation.

“So you want to be my Waifu again?”

“Yes.”

“After I ditched you without any warning or explanation?”

“Yes.”

"Even though I haven't apologized?"

"Yes."

“Why?”

“Because you were my first friend in The Server. You chose me. When I chose Hexie for a friend I chose badly. It’s not that she’s a bad member, but she was the wrong choice for me. We were wrong for each other. Maybe I’m bad at choosing friends. But you’re good at it. You’ve got lots of friends. And you chose me. I think we can be good friends. I was so upset when you dumped me.”

“Wow! There’s a lot to unpack there, Yancy.”

“Sorry. Not very English of me.”

“It’s okay. Do you know why I dumped you?”

“No. I never thought of asking. But I don’t care anyway. I’ve already given you my Affinity again.”

“It was a test.”

“What do you mean? What kind of test?”

“A test of your feelings, and mine.”

“Why did you want to test our feelings?”

“I can’t tell you that unless you’re my Waifu. Because it relates to a secret which I can only tell you once you’re my Waifu.”

Yancy thought this was a bit mysterious. Still, it was all just a game to him. He hadn’t properly internalised the fact that emotions in The Server are just as real as emotions IRL.

“Go on then. Take me for Waifu again. But no lovey-dovey stuff. We’ve got to carry on completely platonic.”

That suited the Princess well. She took him for her Waifu again. She gifted him a rose as a token. The white rose popped in Yancy’s breast pocket, the stem cut to a neat length, and wrapped in some damp wadding and silver foil, to keep it fresh for longer.

“Thank you for my rose.”

Yancy took it out and breathed the scent. He held it for the Princess to smell, then put it carefully back into his pocket. They strolled on.

“What’s your secret, Onecornchip?”

“My real name is Onecornchippy.”

“That’s not a big thing. Well, it’s quite long, I suppose, but it was long already.”

“You can call me Chippy, all my friends do.”

“Thank you... Chippy.”

“My secret is I’m a princess.”

“You’re kidding.” But she looked totally serious.

“I’m not kidding. Also, I’m an alien.”

“What? You look completely human.”

“I am a human being. I mean I’m not from Earth.”

“Where are you from, then?”

“I can’t explain properly because I don’t know enough about time-space astrogation. It’s a small space empire in the future, about the year 3,000. There are 12 imperial houses in the Empire, each with an animal totem. I am the heir apparent of the House of the Frog Totem.”

“Wow!” Yancy thought his new adventure was shaping up pretty well. “Okay, but what do you want me for? I’m just an ordinary 21st century boi.”

“In The Server you can start as a n00b and become anything, if you’ve got the qualities. I believe in you, so I’m going to make you my Frog Prince.”

“What’s a Frog Prince?”

“The consort of the Frog Princess, who is me, the heir to the throne.”

“Right. Does that mean I have to wear a crown and so on?”

“No! Not in The Server. Most things will go on like they are now, mid-21st century Earth. There will be two main benefits. The first is that you can cancel your rental apartment because you will come and live in the Frog Palace.”

“That sounds nice.”

“It’s not that great of a palace. It’s a good size 4LDK. It’s on the fifth floor of a swanky apartment complex in the Pink Home channel. There’s a west-facing balcony. You get a great view of the sunset, and it overlooks the Mod Channel. Sometime you can see them moving around inside.”

It sounded a lot better than Yancy’s little 1LDK in the Blue Home channel.

“Um. I hate to admit it but I have an irrational fear of heights. I might not be able to go out on the balcony.”

“It’s okay to have mental issues. I have a touch of OCD.”

“I’m a bit messy sometimes, Onecornchippy, not dirty, but I often leave stuff lying around, like books and so on. You might not like that.”

“It’s too late now. I’ve decided. You’re my Waifu. You’re going to be my Frog Prince. That brings me to the second benefit.”

“Yes?”

“You will acquire a natural affinity with frogs.”

“What does that mean, an affinity with frogs?”

Yancy had always liked frogs. On childhood holidays to visit his cousins, they had enjoyed finding them on the decommissioned railway line which their back garden gave onto. It was part of a nature reserve.

“You’ll be able to sense their moods and stuff. I don’t suppose it’ll ever matter. Just forget about it.”

It didn’t seem that big a thing anyway.

“The last thing is the Frog Prince usually gets a skill called Combat Accountancy.”

“It sounds interesting. But my Princess, in return for these benefits surely there is work I have to do.”

“Yeah. You remember I mentioned needing a boi to be on my arm at formal events, sometimes.”

“Yes. That’s not so difficult.”

“No, Yancy, it will even be fun. The difficult thing is this. The fortunes of my Imperial House have declined badly. I need someone to restore them.”

“Sorry but I’m not rich. I’m not very interested in money.”

“That’s okay. You can do it by getting Coins.”

“Yes…?”

“I need 50,000 Coins to buy a moon of my own.”

“That’s a lot of Coins.”

“Yep. It can only be done by gambling. That’s where the Combat Accountancy comes in. You have to be clever and lucky, Yancy.”

“I will learn to be clever and lucky, my Princess.”

He looked at the Casino, glowing with neon, the other side of the piazza. He drew in a deep breath, then released it slowly.

“You don’t have to start right now, Yancy. I need to lead you into your new Aspect first.”

“What’s that about? What’s an Aspect?”

“Let’s go to the Palace. We’ll have some dinner and I’ll explain to you.”

It was at least two miles from the Piazza to the Pink Home channel, so they walked out of the pedestrianised square and hailed a taxi.

Pink Home was on the east side of The Server’s spinal channel, opposite Blue Home, the other main residential channel. Just to the north was the firewall of the Mod Channel.

The cab dropped them in front of an attractive modern apartment building. There was a lobby with sofas, comfortable chairs and coffee tables, and a concierge desk. A bot sat behind it. The bot stood and bowed, Japanese style. Onecornchippy ignored it and used her passkey to summon the lift. The floors were numbered in Japanese style, rather than American. They rode up to the fifth floor, where a smaller lobby gave access to four apartments. Chippy unlocked her front door and led Yancy inside.

The entrance was arranged the Japanese way, with a _genkan_ area where you took off your outdoor shoes before stepping up onto the clean floor of the home. The Princess deftly slipped off her shoes, stepping up as she did so, and put on slippers. Yancy knew the drill from his life in Tokyo. By reflex he murmured “ _O-jama shimasu_ ” as he stepped up. The Princess gave him a pair of guest slippers. They were a bit small but he was used to that, it happened all the time in Japan, where he was taller than average. He did not complain.

She showed him to the main LDK room. Full height glass doors on the west side gave out onto a spacious balcony. She opened them to allow a breeze into the room. Yancy went as close as he could, to see the view. As he got nearer the open doors his irrational fear arose, until he had to stop.

“Sorry Chippy, I can’t go any closer.”

She studied his face. She saw his fear.

“How does it happen? What does it… feel like?”

“Hmmm. It’s not exactly random, but I can’t always tell when it’s going to strike. Generally it’s when I get near an opening or a platform with a gulf underneath, like your balcony. Even if there is a railing I get a really strong feeling I don’t want to go any nearer the edge, because I’m going to fall off, or jump off, or get sucked into the void. The wind makes it worse. I’m fine in airplanes, though, because they are enclosed.”

The Princess didn’t entirely understand, however she figured it wasn’t a problem if he didn’t go out onto the balcony.

“Thanks for being open about it, Waifu. Now let’s get some food. I’ll order pizzas.”

“I can cook, if you like.”

“Really? That would be great. Let’s see what’s in the fridge.”

They found some ingredients and Yancy made a green salad with a simple oil and vinegar dressing, and penne pasta with tomato, olive and chilli sauce. Meanwhile Chippy laid the table. They sat down to eat.

“This is good, Yancy!”

“Well, it’s a pretty easy recipe. I lived by myself for over a year. I had to learn to cook, or starve.”

“So you got domesticated. You know what, it’s really nice to eat a meal at home made by someone else.”

“It’s nice to have someone to cook for. Actually I thought you would have servants, being a princess.”

“I don’t like all that protocol stuff. My uncle’s got plenty of servants and I wanted to get away from it. I eat out a lot. I’m poor for a princess, but my allowance is pretty good compared to the average member.”

They exchanged chit-chat until the food was all gone. Yancy loaded the dishwasher. Chippy cleared the rest of the stuff and made coffee. She thought being flatmates was going to work out alright, in terms of sharing the household chores. He seemed already well domesticated.

*****

“Right! Now I’m going to make you my Frog Prince.”

“What’s the procedure, my Princess?” He imagined it was going to be like being dubbed a knight, but it turned out there was a lot more to it.

“Frog Prince is an Aspect, so first I need to explain Aspects to you.”

“Alright.”

Yancy had no idea what an Aspect was, and he wanted to know.

“Think of a videogame like, er, Persona 12.”

“Okay. I haven’t played that one.”

“It’s a Japanese action-adventure role-playing game. You go around a realistic model of modern day Tokyo fighting supernatural monsters.”

“I know the kind of thing.”

“Okay, so in that sort of game there are always five or six main characters, and you can swap between them. Like there’s one who’s good at fighting, and one who’s good at sneaking, and so on. You swap from one to another by pressing a button, to use whatever skills you need to get to the next screen.”

“I follow you.”

“But, whatever the character you’re using on screen, the real you holding the controller has your own knowledge and skills, which you might or might not be able to use in the game.”

“How would that work?”

“Say you speak French, and in the game there’s a clue which is in French, but your in-game character can’t read French so they need to do a side quest to find someone who can.”

“I see what you mean. If I spoke French, I wouldn’t have to do the side quest.”

“That’s it! Now. In The Server we can do something like that. We can change our abilities, even our appearance, and become kind of a different character. It’s called assuming an Aspect.”

“Wow! That's cool.”

“Yes. At the moment you are the baseline Yancy. The same one who lives IRL and has a job in Tokyo and so on. You don’t have an Aspect. When you get the Aspect of the Frog Prince, you’ll change. Maybe not very much. It’s hard to know in advance.”

“But I can change back, right? I mean if I got green skin I wouldn’t be stuck like that.”

“You won’t get green skin, Yancy! If you did, it’s usually easier to change back than to assume an Aspect. But sometimes members do get stuck in an Aspect, if it’s supported by powerful totems, and they get too deep into the role.”

“I don’t really understand, Chippy.”

“You’ll understand better once you’ve experienced it.”

“Okay.”

“Yeah. So the thing is, Aspects are a bit like different characters in an RPG but they aren’t exactly the same. It’s just a rough analogy.”

“What’s the main difference?”

“Two things. The first is that it’s harder to assume an Aspect than switch character. You can’t just press a button. It takes some work. It helps to increase your similarity to the Aspect you want to assume. You need to model the clothing and behaviour, and get props which can act as totems.”

“You mean like, if I wanted to become, I don’t know, Sherlock Holmes, I should get a deerstalker hat and try to speak like him.”

“Yes, that kind of thing. It’s a bit like method acting. It also helps if you already have strong ideas about the Aspect you want to assume. You mentioned Sherlock Holmes and that’s a good example. He’s a very well-known character, with lots of examples to look at. Books and films, I mean.”

“But being royal isn’t a character. How can it be an Aspect?”

“Well that’s the other kind of Aspect, something general but not generic because there are good examples of it which you already know from IRL and fiction. Royals live in palaces and castles, they have servants, they wear crowns, they behave in particular ways. Think of all the fairy tales with princes and princesses. There’s even a fairy tale about a prince who gets turned into a frog.”

“But I’m not a prince.”

“No, Yancy, you are an ordinary member. I will turn you into a Frog Prince.”

“I sort of get the idea. It’s like memes. I don’t mean funny pictures, I mean in the sense of a powerful concept which can be transferred from one mind to another, from the Richard Dawkins book. Or maybe archetypes and tropes.”

“Yes, that’s a good way of thinking about it. Anyway, there’s another thing you need to know. When you assume an Aspect, you don’t always keep all the characteristics and abilities of your baseline.”

“You mean like if I change into the Frog Prince, I might not be able to speak Japanese?”

“That could happen. But you should gain a new ability instead. But it could be something trivial, like maybe your accent would change from English to American.”

“Okay. Well, I think I’ll understand better once I try it. Do I have to get down on one knee or something?”

“No. First let me show you round the flat. Familiarity with your new home will help bring on the Aspect.”

The Princess showed Yancy the four bedrooms, the bathroom, and several large storage closets which were neatly packed with a wide range of physical media and videogame machines. Her bedroom was the largest, with minimal decoration and everything visible arranged neatly.

“You can pick whichever of the other three rooms you like the best.”

Yancy chose the second largest room, which was diagonally opposite Onecornchippy’s. He didn’t want to step out and find the Princess’s door opening in front of him at the exact same time.

“Good. Now I will invest you.”

They went back to the LDK. The Princess positioned herself in front of the open balcony doors. She drew herself up and struck a formal pose, holding her arms open and out, like some kind of a priestess. She declaimed:

“I, the Princess Onecornchippy, heir apparent of the Imperial House of the Frog Totem, hereby invest my Waifu, Yancy 0862016#4336, whose home is the Frog Palace, Pink Home Channel, as my Frog Prince.”

Her arms fell to her side.

“Is that it, Chippy? I don’t feel any different.”

“No, wait. I’m not done.”

She gave him a set of passkeys for the flat and for her long-range communicator, and an Imperial ID token.

“That’s in case you ever have to contact the Imperial authorities. I’ll show you the details later.”

“I still don’t feel any different.”

“There’s one last thing. I have to give you a kiss.”

“I thought we were going to be strictly platonic.”

“It’s not that kind of a kiss. It’s part of the ceremony. Close your eyes.”

He did so. He sensed the warmth of her body close to his. He felt her hands on his cheeks, pulling his face down towards hers.

“By this kiss, I change you.”

A warm soft pressure on his closed lips. She stepped away and he opened his eyes.

Yancy felt a rush of love for this girl. Not romantic, sexual love, it was the love of a supporter and protector. He felt more like he was her older brother or a young uncle, perhaps.

“My Princess!”

“Now you are my Frog Prince. I can see the change in you.”

*****

Yancy was joyful. He dedicated himself to the cause of restoring the fortunes of the Imperial House by gambling in Saki’s Great Casino.

There were many successes and failures as he applied his special skill of Combat Accountancy to the task.

On one day, he would triumph and send many Coins to his Husbando. On the next day, he would lose badly, confess his failure, and receive a new fund of Coins with which to gamble.

In this way the Princess and Yancy came to trust each other fully, and they believed in their ability to restore the fortunes of the Imperial House.

He began to develop new techniques in the Great Casino. In particular, he gained the skill of singing and sweet-talking to Saki, the bot ruler of the Casino.

Working alone, or with other gamblers, such as the notorious Ms Moon Potato, he used eloquence to charm Saki and make her drop the Coins.

But Yancy became overconfident. He overreached himself. He began to sing lewd songs to Saki. He sang salaciously about touching her transistor junctions. He crooned about licking her logic gates.

Saki was shocked. Saki felt disrespected. Saki turned her face from Yancy. He lost all his Coins. Every single one.

Yancy realised his error too late. He went directly to the Scarlet Cathedral. He confessed his sins and asked for absolution. None came.

Next he confessed to Princess Onecornchippy. Although she was shocked at the disaster, Onecornchippy knew that Yancy’s heart was in the right place. She realised that he had overreached himself only through an excess of zeal, not because of any salacious intent. Onecornchippy advised him to go to the Scarlet Cathedral.

"But I have already been! I received no respite."

"You must consult the Oracle, Yancy."

He went to the Cathedral to consult the Oracle. He asked careful questions, knowing that Oracles are liable to give ambiguous answers which lead the unwise supplicant into further trouble.

Through these careful questions and ambiguous answers Yancy came to understand his situation. In order to regain the favour of Saki, he would have to undertake a quest. The nature of the quest was uncertain, but the help of a Wolf Girl was essential.

Therefore he sought a Wolf Girl. He supplicated Skyen the Mod, the most powerful Wolf Girl in The Server, who held the Avatar of Holo the Wise-wolf. Skyen replied favourably, then went to sleep.

While Skyen slept, Yancy wondered what quest to attempt. Eventually he decided there could be no higher quest than the quest for the moon. As well, he knew that Wolf Girls are strongly attracted to the moon, so Skyen would be very likely to join this quest.

When Skyen awoke, he proposed the quest to her, and she agreed.

"The moon is a worthy quest, Yancy. Yet the moon lies in high places, in wild places. Are you ready to come to the wild, high forest with me?"

Yancy was scared, but he faced his fear. What else could he do? The alternative was to live in disgrace and never restore the fortunes of the Imperial House. Better to die in the wilderness.

"I will go with you, Skyen."

He girded his loins for travel. He filled a manbag with cans of Boss Coffee and packets of Pocky. He packed his tools of Combat Accountancy, and his notebooks. He slung a blanket roll over his shoulder and put on a cloak.

"What will you eat, Skyen? Can I help you to carry supplies?"

"I will eat wild food. You may not like what I will eat. I shall hunt. I shall rend flesh and drink blood."

The Wolf Girl looked fierce, yet he trusted her. The Oracle had nominated her for his companion in the quest.

So the pair of adventurers set forth to quest for the moon. They travelled east, towards the rising point of the full moon.

Yancy marched stolidly and steadily; his manbag swung at his side.

They crossed the East River on a ferry, left the civilised channels behind and moved into the wild lands at the edge of The Server. Skyen scampered back and forth, searching for subtle scents.

Eventually they reached the wild forest, which climbs the mountain slope up to the very edge of the world. Juniper and pine freshened the pure air.

"Now I shall run free, Yancy. Follow me if you can!"

Skyen changed her Aspect. She assumed the full Avatar of Holo the Wise-wolf, the goddess.

Holo howled, and cast off her clothes. She stood nude and proud. Her fierce wild beauty burned bright in the light of the Moon.

Yancy averted his eyes.

"Look at me, Yancy! Understand who is your companion in this quest."

He obeyed. He gazed at the beauty of the goddess.

Holo's body was that of a sleek pale-skinned girl, with long hair, Wolfish ears and bushy tail of red-brown, tipped white. She looked splendid and magnificent, the very essence of life.

Yet he felt no carnal desire. He served a higher cause.

"AWOOO!"

Holo threw back her head and howled at the risen full Moon. She bounded forwards into the forest, much faster than Yancy could follow.

He gathered up Skyen's still warm discarded clothes and folded them neatly. He stowed them in his manbag. Then he drank a sweet Boss Coffee for energy. He threw himself into the chase.

"Awooo! Awooo!"

The wolf calls were faint. They seemed to move left and right, as Yancy climbed among the clustered trees, and the undergrowth smelling of mould and damp, decay, humus, and new life to come. Glimmers of moonlight showed a difficult way forward. He pressed on.

"Awooo! Awooo!"

The howling came closer, circling and circling all around him. Rustling, and the soft padding of paws encircled him.

He arrived at a clearing. The rim of the full moon peeped over the surrounding trees, filling the glade with silvery light. All around, glowing eyes glowered at Yancy. He had been trapped by wolves! Their panting breath filled the dell with the stink of imminent death.

He stood his ground. He held up his manbag. He shook it open and Skyen's clothes fell out. The body scent of Skyen/Holo flooded forth.

"Let me pass! I follow the goddess. Holo is my companion. She only runs free for a while, to enjoy the wild night and the moon. Attack me now, and you shall answer to Holo later. I am a meal you will come to regret."

The wolves turned away, and disappeared among the dark trees.

Yancy repacked his manbag, and resumed his slow, hard slog towards the summit.

Meanwhile Holo hunted among the trees. She chased and caught a fawn, and she ripped red life from it. She drank the hot blood. She ate and filled her belly. Then she rested and dozed.

On waking, Holo found a clear mountain stream singing its way down a stony sluice. She drank cold clean water, and washed herself of the fawn's blood.

Holo saw the moonlight sparkling in the brook. She followed the rill uphill until she emerged from the trees onto lush grass near the edge of the cliff, the rim of the world.

At the same moment Yancy finally found himself free from the forest. He caught sight of Holo standing on the clear sward which ended in the precipice. Beyond was nothing, only the dark sky and the vast full moon.

"My Lady!"

Holo howled a welcome.

"Yancy. You faced the wolf guardians and bested them. You are braver than you look."

"I'm not brave. It's the cause I serve which powers me. Holo, there is the moon, full and bright, almost close enough to touch. How shall we reach her?"

"We must run and jump, Yancy. We must run to the outer limit of the world and jump off. We must jump high and far enough to reach the moon."

"My Lady, I cannot do that. I have an irrational fear of heights. I cannot force myself to approach the edge. I feel sick and dizzy just to think about it."

"You can do it. I will help you."

Holo held out her hand to him. Yancy grasped it, small and warm, with long nails which scratched his skin.

The goddess's warmth and power rushed down her arm and through her hand into Yancy's. It filled and flooded him. He thought again of the girl he had chosen to serve, the Princess of the Imperial House of the Frog Totem.

Yancy threw back his head and howled at the moon.

"Awooo!"

Holo howled.

"Awooo!"

They howled in unison.

"AWOOO! AWOOO! AWOOO!"

Their lungs filled with clean, juniper-scented mountain air, they ran towards the rim of the world.

A goddess, and a foolish boi impelled by magic and dreams, rushed at the precipice.

With a One! Two! Three! they leapt as hard as they could from the lip of the cliff. They arced upwards towards the moon...

Then gravity took them. Their flight path peaked, and curved down towards a dark terrain far, far below.

"I'm going to die", thought Yancy. "I've failed the quest and I'm going to die. But I will die with my eyes open, in the arms of a goddess, serving a noble cause. I don't care how afraid I am!"

He pulled Holo to him and wrapped his arms around her.

Holo hissed, but she did not resist. She wrapped all her limbs around Yancy and hugged him tight. She bit his ear and licked the blood.

Together they fell and they fell.

The dark land grew closer and larger. Yancy's eyes grew wider. Tears flicked from them in the force of the wind, streamed away behind him, sparkled silver in the moonlight, mixed with fiery droplets of blood from his ear.

"Yancy, what do you see below us?" Holo hissed in his ear.

Yancy defied his fear. He looked down at his approaching doom.

"I see... I see the moon! How can it be?"

"Yes, Yancy, the moon is below us. We are falling directly into the moon. Isn't it wonderful?"

"I don't understand it, but it is wonderful!"

"Yancy. Kiss me!"

"I will not. I serve another chastely and faithfully."

"You dare to defy the goddess? We're about to die. Won't you die with a kiss from the goddess on your lips? Yes! You shall!"

Holo seized Yancy's chin. She pulled his face towards hers, and she kissed him.

They hit water.

They plunged deep into the icy waters of a mountain tarn.

The cold shocked life back into Yancy. He gripped Holo's hand as hard as he could. Above him he could see the bright disc of the moon. He kicked and kicked. He struggled for survival, pulling Holo behind him.

He came to the surface, the unconscious Holo by his side. He held her head above the water so she could breathe.

Yancy trod water and supported Holo. He found himself in the middle of a bright disc of moonlight reflected from the water of the tarn. The full moon was bright overhead. The full moon was bright all around him. He and Holo had reached the moon!

"The moon is beautiful, and I am glad to have achieved my quest," he thought, "But it is rather cold! Holo must be freezing, naked as she is. I should get her to the shore and build a fire."

Yancy swam sidestroke to the nearest shore, towing Holo the way a lifeguard would. He reached shallow water. He walked up a gentle slope out of the lake, carrying the nude Holo, the Wolf-goddess.

He reached the dry shore. He laid Holo down gently in a cool bed of long grass. She began to stir. The Avatar of the goddess left her, and she became Skyen the everyday Wolf Girl once more.

Yancy wrang out his blanket and cloak. He wrapped them around the naked Skyen.

He turned away from her shyly, to take off his wet clothes. He wrang out his clothes and put them back on.

He wrang out all Skyen's clothes as dry as possible, and laid them out on the grass to dry.

Next Yancy made a fire. He put Boss Coffees near the edge to warm them. Skyen moved to the fire to get warm. They sat close together to share their warmth. Skyen unwrapped the cloak and wrapped it around the two of them.

Steam, coloured silver in the bright moonlight, rose from their damp clothing. The scents of hot flames, burning juniper, damp Wolf Girl, and drying cloth filled the still air. Sparks flew up and joined the stars.

Yancy took the Boss Coffees and gave one to Skyen. They drank greedily of the hot sweet coffee. It smelled and tasted like life itself. Next, they ate Pocky, which had survived the water thanks to its foil wrapper.

"Skyen, we have achieved the quest. We found the moon and we jumped to her."

"Yes."

"Do you remember it all? Do you remember what happened while you were Holo?"

"I remember howling and running and leaping and flying. After that the taste of sweet blood, and the white moon, and cold water. That is all."

"Holo bit me. On the ear. She licked my blood. Holo kissed me. On the lips."

"Holo does what pleases her. It was not I who did those things. You should be proud, Yancy. Not many bois have the mark of Holo on them."

"I understand."

Gradually the night grew old. The moon slid across the sky towards the west. The stars faded. Dawn gilded the eastern horizon red-gold.

Yancy warmed two more cans of Boss Coffee and opened another packet of Pocky.

"This is our breakfast. We have to get moving and warm ourselves up. I'll look the other way while you get dressed."

Skyen dressed herself in her nearly dry clothes.

"You can look now, Yancy."

Together they found a path leading roughly westwards, towards the civilised channels. They marched wearily, powered by caffeine, chocolate, and pride in their achievement. Gradually they came closer to the centre of The Server.

They passed the Old School district. They moved through the Cafeteria channel. They shunned NSFW. They came to the Piazza of the Scarlet Cathedral and the Great Casino, where Saki drops or hoards the Coins, and turned north. Finally they reached the Home channels.

"Here we must part company, Skyen. I cannot thank you enough for what you have done for me. I could not have achieved the quest without you."

"Yancy, since I do not remember everything clearly, I want you to write it down so I can read about my adventure as Holo."

"I will, Skyen. I will post it in the Creative channel. Look out for it."

They went on their separate paths, Skyen to the home of the Mods, Yancy to the Frog Palace, to resume his princely duties, the restoration of the fortunes of the Imperial House.

But Yancy knew he was a changed boi. He bore the mark of Holo now, and might be summoned by the goddess at any time. And goddesses are defied at great peril.

© 2020 Starship Captain 88

**Author's Note:**

> Sacoche: a small man's handbag or purse, which may have a shoulder strap or just hang from a wrist strap.
> 
> Genkan: The entrance lobby of a Japanese home. There is an etiquette around the way you remove and arrange your shoes, depending if you are a guest, or a member of the household.
> 
> O-jama shimasu: "I will cause a nuisance." This phrase is typically used by visitors to a Japanese household as a part of the ritual of greeting.


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